Efficiency Based Integrated Design of the V3 Parallel Manipulator for Pick-and-Place Applications

Efficiency is critical requirement for high-speed pick-and-place operations. In order to achieve high acceleration, low moving mass/inertia is inevitable, which leads to increasing flexible effects due to the applied thin and light links, and then the accuracy can be difficult to guarantee. In this paper, a general framework of the integrated structure/control design, which is regarded as a preferable technique for flexible manipulators, is presented for pick-and-place operations. The dynamic model for the V3 parallel manipulator is derived by the finite element method. The proportional-derivative control strategy is applied in the closed-loop system. The structural and control parameters are optimized simultaneously by solving the efficiency based integrated design problem with accuracy constraints. Simulation shows that the integrated design method presents improved system performance on efficiency, and the accuracy is also guaranteed.